Brunch

This weekend I hosted brunch for my book club and whipped up three quick recipes that were super easy and really, really tasty. I'd have taken pictures but my camera is dead and it was like, a monsoon here anyway, so it would have looked all grey and bleary and decidedly un-brunchy, so I'll just tell you about them instead and you can just imagine them. :)

First I made a recipe that I found in the Sun-Times actually for a knock off of those ridiculously delicious Red Lobster Cheddar Bay biscuits, and they turned out perfect!! They're probably Red Lobster's only redeeming quality, and now I can make them at home so I'll never have to set foot in one again. They're really quick and easy, too. Take 2 1/2 cups of Bisquick, mix 4 Tablespoons of cold butter in it up with a fork until the butter's kinda pea-sized. Then mix in 1 and 3/4 cups whole milk, one heaping cup of grated cheddar, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder. I just used my hands cause the Bisquick gets all sticky and it's pointless to try to use a fork. Don't over mix them. Then put golf-ball sized dollops on an ungreased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. When they come out, melt 2 Tablespoons butter with 1/2 tsp. garlic powder and some parsley, and brush it on top of the biscuits. I made 10 of them, and the five of us ate all of them, they were so good.

Next, I made a sweet potato hash. The only downside to this was that the chopping took forever, but so it goes. It was also supposed to have twice as much bacon in it as it did, but since unattended bacon always disappears, Jamie ate half the bacon before I finished cooking the potatoes. Anyhoo. Cook up about 10 strips of bacon and set aside. Cook 1 diced red onion,
1 diced red bell pepper and 1 diced green bell pepper with a couple of cloves minced garlic in the bacon fat (you only need about half of it, so pour it off before you put the veggies in. Come to think of it, I poured it into a coke can so it didn't screw up my sink and then I set the can outside on the porch cause it was making all sorts of crazy noises and i kinda thought it was going to explode, and I just realized it's still sitting out there. I'll have to dispose of that when I get home. Oops!). I digress. When veggies are a little wilty, add 4 large, peeled and diced white potatoes, and 2 large peeeled and diced sweet potatoes. I imagine you could mix up that ratio however you like, but this worked out pretty well for me. Now cook, cook, cook till the potatoes are browned and mushy and everything is soft, hashy goodness. Mine took about 30 minutes or so in a big wok-like saute pan, stirring occasionally throughout so nothing burned. Salt and pepper to taste. Yum!

And for the requisite egg portion of the brunch I made baked eggs in their own little edible cups, an idea I got from 101 cookbooks. I made mine with a goat cheese, parsley and rosemary base, but you could get all sorts of creative with the filling. So what you do is quarter a pita pocket (i used whole wheat) and open it up and shove it into a small ramekin. It's okay if it breaks, you're just making a little cup to put the rest of the stuff in. Mix up goat cheese and herbs, put into the pita, then crack an egg or two over it all, salt and pepper, slide it into the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes, top with some creme fraiche, and voila! Tasty baked eggs. Almost no work at all.

And of course, top it all off with several mimosas. :)

Brunch